And it's not just their style that's changed, HyunA, 20, tells the magazine they've made bold decisions about their new album. "We constantly go up to writers nagging them for new songs," she says. "They say there aren’t many people like us!" 22-year-old Gayoon adds: "We always go to people directly. We find them, contact them and go see them in person and this kind of initiative gets us adoration... [For this album] we want to go for a style that suits our age now."

Covered, but still sexy: 4Minute rock chic suits in the May edition of the magazineCredit: FirstLook Korea

Members of the group have been considerably active in their solo activities this past year, but the sisterhood claims the extra work doesn't detriment the group efforts. "Even when I was preparing 'Troublemaker', 4Minute always came top priority anyway," HyunA explains.

Youngest member 18-year-old Sohyun is excited to be back in action. "At first I felt left out... All the other members were busy with their solo work and other friends in the industry at my age were doing well too," she admits. "But I soon started thinking that if I prepared and practiced more now, I would be able to better embrace whatever opportunity that comes along." HyunA adds: “Sohyun is so good at practicing and preparing herself. She makes plans to learn Japanese, practice playing guitar and whatnot, and she makes these plans and sticks to them."

On the subject of fashion Gayoon explains that they are going for individual styles for this album. "There used to be a strong sense of uniformity in the 4Minute style, she says, "but this time we're going to free up our individual characters to go with the style of the music." Lead vocalist Jiyoon, 22, adds: "We all have our own unique colors but I don’t think it’s really been put out there yet."

The girls’ new EP "Name is 4minute", and single "What's Your Name?", is scheduled for release on April 26.